Tuesday, November 6, 2012

I
was born here in Austin and grew up out in the Leander/Cedar Park area.

What
university did you go to?

Graduated
from The University of Texas.

What
brought you to Austin?

I
was born and raised here, doubt I’ll ever call anywhere else home.

What
is your group’s mission?

Slow Money is bringing people together around a
shared vision about what itmeans
to be an investor in the 21st Century, and a
new conversation about money that is too fast, about finance that is
disconnected from people and place, about how we can begin fixing our economy
from the ground up... starting with food.

What
need does it fulfill?

Current
investment strategies involve investments in banks, companies and opportunities
that are completely disconnected from place. With the creation of electronic
trading, complex derivatives and the expansion of global markets, money –
particularly investing - is no longer tied to where we live. Slow Money is
changing this by starting conversations about how people can invest in where
they live, the people and companies in their community and how we can begin to Bring
Money Back Down to Earth.

What
exactly does it bring to startups?

Slow
Money provides startups the opportunity to become more connected with the
community they serve. We offer a way for these startups to communicate with
members of their community, along with current or future customers. They can
tell their story – who they are, why they wanted to start their business, how
they might impact the local community. Lending should not be a faceless
transaction, like it has been for decades now. We feel that a community becomes
stronger when people connect with the businesses that they rely on and that
they are a valuable source of capital for those businesses. Whether it be
through Community Supported Agriculture, Crowdfunding or other opportunities,
we think that businesses should look to their customers and community for
capital rather than a faceless, large-scale banking institution.

What
type of startup would benefit from your group?

We
try to focus our efforts on local, sustainable businesses that can have an
impact on the community in which they are located. We are currently focusing
most of our efforts on local, sustainable members of our food system; ranchers,
farmers, food delivery companies, farm to table restaurants, bakers, creameries
and so on. Although the Slow Money principles can apply across the board, we
have decided to start with food. We think food and our food system is one of
the most important parts of our economy and everyday lives, so we are starting
there and we will see where it takes us.

What
was the most challenging aspect of starting up the initiative?

Slow
Money is a national movement that began back in 2009, when Woody Tasch wrote
the book “Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing As If Food, Farms
and Fertility Mattered”. After seeing what had been going on in the world of
investing, he published this book based on discussions he had been having with
others. It was really just a launching point and a framework for a set of
questions that we are still working on the answers for. So, we started our
local Slow Money Austin Chapter around the same time and have been growing
since.

What
advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

One
of the most important things that we try to get entrepreneurs to do is really
sit down and look at their business. We ask them to look at where they are,
where they want to be – in 2, 5, 10 years and on – and then look at how they
want to get there. Most entrepreneurs have become accustomed to going about
acquiring capital via the same avenues; venture capital, angel investors,
private placements or SBA loans. We think that these are the correct route for
some businesses, but that they are not for everyone. What if a company truly
doesn’t want an exit? What if they don’t want to open 15 stores nationwide?
What if they want to stay small, local
or maybe family owned? These are all questions that should guide them and we
think they should be key when looking at raising capital. They should look at
their source of capital as a partner and as someone who’s goals are in-line
with theirs, not just a source of much needed cash or a large ATM.

What
Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

We have been
appreciative of the help provided by the Texas Entrepreneurs Network from an
investment standpoint. It can sometimes be hard to get your message out and
they have allowed us access to the investment community that we are really
trying to reach. With that said, the largest resource that we have here is the
community itself. We are lucky to be doing what we are doing in a city that is
so supportive of the buy local initiative. We are basically just trying to take
that sentiment one step further – we’re hoping to get people to consider the
idea of Invest Local as well. We
are trying to strengthen our community through bringing our investment dollars
back into it. We are truly lucky to be attempting this in a city that is
already trying to keep itself weird.